Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Jared looks back at the Legend of Zelda game that no one liked. Synopsis Zelda II is known as the black sheep of the franchise. Jared played this game a lot as a child. Jared's brother had a stack of games hidden in his room. Jared wasn't allowed to play them, so he sneaked into his brother's room and secretly playing them anyway. Jared is shown covering himself with a blanket, and sneaking into a room to play Hydlide. Once he gave up on that game, he played Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Jared likes it and doesn't believe it deserves the hate it gets. The first screen is perfect. Showing her right at the start of the game is great. The original Link has green eyebrows! THe Zelda II Link is a man - with no pants. The player can teach themselves how to play on the first screen. Jared discusses the overworld and random battles. The RPG elements are not welcome in a Zelda game, despite people considering Zelda to be an RPG. Because numbers appear in Zelda II, it's 'Not Zelda'. At no point is it required to get stronger with grinding, because it doesn't introduce overpowered enemies. The game however, isn't fair. Jared likes getting to palaces, as the music is awesome. As well as getting the required items in the palaces, these are the most fun dungeons. Jared shows the crouching jump stab, which is one of the most efficient ways to fight enemies. Jared tries to show off this technique in real life. Jared liked being able to fight enemies, rather then seeing them as obstacles in the first game. However, Link's reach is far too short. The swordbeam is close to useless, as a lot of enemies are immune to it. A major complaint of the game is that it is easy to get lost. Jared never felt lost while in dungeons, and wonders if he is missing something. There is no in game map, so Jared made maps. A lot of dungeons use the same layouts within the dungeons, but Jared had an idea where he was even without a map. Jared disagrees with the overworld being easy to become lost in. It is very straight forward. The game is extremely linear. There aren't secret caves to discover. There are secrets, but they usually stand out. The more obtuse secrets are talked about by locals. The people in this game are actually helpful - except the ones that are secretly bats! The villages are argued to be cryptic, but Jared doesn't agree. Jared discusses the magic powers and sword skills that Link is taught. Link isn't taught powers again until Twilight Princess (and Minish Cap). Jared mentions the obvious joke when Link walks into the old ladies house. Jared makes a segue into making a Blue Apron advertisement. This game is unfair. A lot of people call it hard, but it isn't so bad. The game over screen terrified Jared as a kid. Jared discusses that Link goes back to the start of the game after every game over. Jared discusses when the game starts to get hard. The final sections are designed to drain the player's resources. There are bridges with pits that can kill Link. There are bubbles that try to push Link into pits. There are a lot of badly placed enemies placed in unfair positions. The player needs a lot of magic to get through the dungeon, but a lot of puzzles require it, and there are enemies that take the player's magic. The boss needs to be hit by powerful magic spells. Being killed in the Great Palace resets Link at the start of the Great Palace! Why isn't this done in the rest of the game? After that boss, Jared battles Shadow Link. This battle becomes overused throughout the rest of the series. The fight is so cool and terrifying - or you can crouch in the corner and stab him. Shadow Link won't attack first. He only moves if you do. Jared wants everyone to fight Shadow Link as intended. This is the only Zelda game that gives everyone what they wanted out of a Zelda game - romance. Jared liked Zelda II, but he now realizes more of its faults then he was before. It doesn't make the game bad. It is a good game, just unfair and unremarkable. It works fine, not great, but not worthless. The controls have solid controls, experience point progression and leads the player to where they want to go. The combat is fun. Jared likes the magic system. The sword attack is too short, the checkpoint system is an unnecessary pain, and it relies on unfair enemy advantages. Jared still recommends people play the game, but on the eShop. Zelda II is the only Zelda game to give us the pogo stick of death! Category:ProReview Category:Videos